A police force in an area where vulnerable girls were abused by an Asian grooming gang has been graded inadequate over its response to child sexual exploitation.
In a damning report His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said Cleveland Police was still failing to understand the link between missing children and child exploitation.
In 2014 three men from Middlesbrough were jailed for grooming and abusing seven local girls, the youngest of whom was just 14.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Shakil Munir, Ateeq Latif and Sakib Ahmed, 19, exploited the girls after offering them takeaway food, free lifts and drugs.
Munir and Ahmed were both jailed for eight years and Latif, who was 17 at the time, was sentenced to three years in a young offenders’ institution.
But, more than a decade on, inspectors warned that the force was still not responding to the risks facing children and vulnerable young people fully.
Inspectors said the force needed more officers who were specifically trained to investigate crimes against children – Owen Humphreys/PA Archive
The HMICFRS report graded the force as “inadequate” for both “responding to children at risk of harm” and “investigating child abuse, neglect and exploitation”.
Inspectors said the force needed more officers who were specifically trained to investigate crimes against children after finding that the complex exploitation team had 11 staff rather than the 22 recommended.
The report also criticised the force for failing to collect data on the ethnicity of the children being targeted.
Inspectors said: “This means the force can’t accurately analyse the quality of its response to particular ethnic groups. Nor can the force fully understand potential risk factors affecting people because of their cultural heritage.”
Michelle Skeer, the Inspector of Constabulary, said: “The force doesn’t consistently recognise the risks posed to missing children. Nor does it respond to them effectively.”
She went on: “The force doesn’t have enough trained officers and staff to investigate reports of child abuse, neglect and exploitation. Also, although the force has worked hard to train its officers and staff, this training doesn’t always result in improving outcomes for children”
The HMICFRS report was published as calls continue to mount for a public inquiry into the failings of police, councils and other public bodies which allowed thousands of girls across the country to be abused.
The report detailed how Cleveland Police responded to the case of a 15-year-old girl who went missing from a care home for the first time.
The incident was graded as “medium risk” and it took officers more than five hours to respond to the report, “during which time there was little police activity or investigation to find her”.
After she returned to the home, the girl told officers over the phone she had been at a boyfriend’s house and the inspectors concluded that: “The force didn’t show much professional curiosity. It didn’t inquire whether the girl was at risk while she was at the boyfriend’s house.”
The inspectorate also found examples of “victim blaming language” in supervisor reviews of cases including phrases such as “child does not understand her behaviour” and “engages in behaviour that is highly risky”.
The report said: “This contributed to our view that, too often, the force doesn’t consider and respond to risk effectively.”
It said: “The force doesn’t always understand the links between missing children and child exploitation.”
Asst Chief Constable Richard Baker of Cleveland Police said the high levels of social deprivation in the area were continuing to pose a real challenge.
But he said: “I am committed to ensuring the force strives to ensure a high standard of service is provided and the improvements that have already been put in place are sustained and continue to be monitored.”
He went on: “The protection of children across Teesside will continue to be a key priority for Cleveland Police, and I am determined that, together with our partners, we will keep working hard so those who are most vulnerable receive the service they deserve.”